Establishment of a sustainable wild collection for Jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus STAPF ex WARDLEWORTH) in the pre Amazonian Area in Brazil

H Hagels; A von Treuenfels; V Rudge; M Gropper

doi:10.1055/s-0033-1351850

Planta Medica, Table of Contents

Establishment of a sustainable wild collection for Jaborandi (Pilocarpus microphyllus STAPF ex WARDLEWORTH) in the pre Amazonian Area in Brazil

H Hagels ¹, A von Treuenfels ², V Rudge ³, M Gropper ⁴

¹Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG (Phyto Center), Ingelheim (D-55216), Germany
²Boehringer Ingelheim Brazil (Solana), São Paulo/SP (BR-04794 – 000), Brazil
³Centroflora Group, Botucatu/SP (BR-18.602 – 120), Brazil
⁴Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) Brasília/DF (BR-70.702 – 911), Brazil

Abstract

For manufacturers of natural compounds a sustainable supply is crucial. However, several plants are not that easy cultivated as their original habitat is within complex ecosystems. These cases require strategies which assure, that the natural resources are used in a way that guarantees:

I. Sustainable use of Biodiversity

II. Work is done with social responsibility and

III. Business is economically attractive [1].

The leaves of Jaborandi are the major source for purification of the parasympathomimetic API Pilocarpine. Efforts have been made to cultivate the shrub [2], but wild collected leaves are still important because of their much higher concentrations [3], as the alkaloid biosynthesis is more influenced by environmental than genetic conditions [4].

Centroflora and Boehringer Ingelheim initiated a project with GIZ with the aim to fulfil sustainable supply criteria in the states of Piauí, Pará and Maranhão in 2011.

Project outline

Identification and registration of collectors
Set up of collection centres that coordinate harvesting, packing of dried leaves and audit collectors and distributors
Training of collectors in:

Harvesting techniques
Intoxication prevention
Drying, packaging, labelling

Issuing collector passports that identify collectors to rangers and authorities
Harvest campaigns

Definition of harvesting period, quantities, details
Price negotiation
Monitoring of harvesting activities

Capacity building on cooperativism and associativism.

Evaluation for continuous improvement
Updating of legal compliance

Impact

The procedure allows the crop to recover and propagate, raises the collectors' average income and provides the industry with stable supply.

References:

[1] Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. Magazine (2011) 24 – 25

[2] Pinheiro C U B: in Posey and Balick; Columbia University Press (2006) 210 – 221

[3] Pinheiro C U B: Econ Bot (1997) 51(1), 49 – 58

[4] Sandhu S S; Abreu I N, Colombo, C.A., Mazzafera P.: Sci. Agric. (Piracicaba, Braz.) (2006) 478 – 482